The Beginning
by Abbicadaby
Summary: Josh, a young werewolf, is assigned to protect a young girl about to enter his pack. He comes to realize that the life he's been living is a lie and he has to save his pack and more importantly this girl from the ultimate evil of all, himself.
1. Just Shut Up Already

1. Just Shut Up Already

I don't know about you, but I feel really dumb about writing this. You see, when you're like me, everything in life is completely clear. Nothing is ever vague. It's always crystal clear. It's sort of like a, you say, "jump," I say, "how high" kind of thing. Don't worry if you aren't following me. Nobody does. So that's nothing new.

Number two on my list of obvious abilities that I don't want to be talking about is my humanity. Take one look at me, and you'll know that I'm not real. Hey, it's a hard knock life, right? Right.

For those of you out there who are shaking your heads right now, wondering if I'll ever stop being this mysterious, the answer to that question is no. I'm not going to stop being mysterious because I think it's kind of funny. Hah! I'll bet you just grimaced, didn't you? Yep. It's all CRYSTAL clear.

Now, to save myself all the time of describing unnecessary events, a bear just attacked me. A BIG bear. Right, so I'm heading south along the highway and this girl just pops up outa nowhere. It's like one minute the road's all deserted and creepy and the next, _she_'s there.

Now, she wasn't a bad-looking girl: kind of cute maybe. A little short for me, but cute. Her hair was pretty cool. I wondered how she did that: got her hair all streaked blonde without it looking too fake. Okay, okay. I know my grammar's kind of on the suckish side, but hey! I've got way better things to do than go around with a grammar book in my survival pack.

Oh yeah, there's something I forgot to mention. I'm half wolf. I won't waste time with all those schmancy metaphors that your teachers would probably drool all over. I've been wolf since I was thirteen. It's probably something to do with puberty I'm sure.

So anyway, this girl is just walking down the side of the highway, I've just been attacked by some wacko combination of Yogi and Booboo Bear, and to top it all off, there's now a semi rattling down the road right in the girl's direction. Get all that? Yeah, me neither.

So I couldn't just let the semi crush her, right? I took two giant bounds and rammed her off the road, perhaps a little too forcefully. Remember that bear I was talking about just a second ago? Well get this: I landed right on the elephant size wound he gave me. Take that, karma.

So I was howling in pain (oh yeah, I was in wolf form) and pinning this girl to the sidewalk. She looked uncomfortable so I let her go and licked at my wound. I'm a wolf! I can't help what instinct tells me. Plus, a dog's mouth is WAY cleaner than a human's. Proven fact.

Let's all take a few seconds to let those of you with weak stomachs go barf your guts out.

Okay. We good? Good.

Now I don't know what the girl's problem was, but she just looked at me like I was Lois Lane and I'd just saved Superman's life, thus harming his ego tremendously. She seemed to gather the fact that I was a wolf and I _think _she let it go. I'm not sure. I really don't get girls.

She muttered to herself, "Wolves are said to be smart anyway." Probably trying to fix her oh so damaged ego. In fact, that's exactly what she was doing.

Kay, so here's the thing. When you're part wolf, like me, you can kind of sense other people's thoughts or emotions. It's complicated. I can't read their exact thoughts or even get back history, but I can you know, tell when they're lying or know their intentions/emotions. This all goes back to the crystal clear thing.

I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not psychic. That would be totally awesome, but I'm not really _psychic_.

Back to reality.

The girl gathered up her things, which looked like they'd been run over by, well, a semi, and stood up. She leaned down again and looked into my eyes. "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm asking this of a wolf, but are you all right?"

Startled, I let my eyes widen, forgetting that a wolf wouldn't usually have that sort of reaction. "You're not, are you?" she whispered, stroking behind my ear. God that felt good.

Okay, this was getting creepy. No one was ever able to see through my pretences, wolf or not. It was simply unheard of, unlikely, and impossible. Okay, maybe not impossible, but you get my point right? It was a new thing for me.

She looked at me and I wondered if she was half expecting an answer. Of course not. Her thoughts said otherwise. She was too self-righteous to think that. Or at least she was trying to be.

She smiled slightly, catching me off-guard. I wondered if she was possibly schizophrenic. Then she reached back and scratched behind my ears again. Regrettably, I think my eyes rolled back in my head slightly. It just felt so good… one of the few downsides to being half wolf.

"I've always loved animals. My grandpa was a zookeeper," she said quietly. Her voice sounded almost wistful. "My grandpa's dead of course." Ah. So that's what it was. Her thoughts suddenly made sense. And no, I'm not going to tell you why until absolutely necessary.

I'm not even sure what compelled me to do so, but I put my head in her lap and nuzzled her. Don't worry, I felt embarrassed, after I'd already done it. To my surprise, she giggled and then began rubbing circles absently on my back.

"You're so soft," she marveled and then placed her cheek against my fur. She then turned and inhaled my scent. Oh brother. If I'd been human, I'm not sure how I would have reacted.

I don't think through half of the decisions I make, but I knew right away that the one I was about to make was a bad one. About two seconds afterward.

I sort of acted on impulse, you know? I never really stopped to think about what I was doing. I just sort of stood up, (or stood up as best you can on four legs) and just sort of…morphed.

Now morphing isn't as weird as it sounds. It's not like in movies where there's like a whole process and they show the hair growing out through your arms. It's really just sort of a flash of light and then BAM! You're morphed. The first time's always the hardest, but after that? Not so much.

So I stood there and the girl watched the soft but sudden burst of light and then I was there. In human form.

She gasped and staggered back a few steps. It wouldn't take a moron more than three seconds to realize that she was taken aback. I watched warily, realizing suddenly how stupid I was. Why couldn't I just be smart for a change? Why couldn't I be normal?

She looked at me, her eyes like daggers. She was not happy at all. I could tell that it was because she had confided something she wouldn't normally have admitted to anyone else. She had confessed a weakness.

Now I know some of you are like me and think that her worries are totally stupid and unjustified, but put yourself in her shoes. To her, admitting weakness was like admitting that you'd been lying about liking chocolate ice cream to your chocoholic best friend. Or something like that.

And of course I felt bad. I may be part wolf, I may be full of myself, but even I wouldn't stoop that low. Though I knew someone who would. (No I'm not going to tell you who it is until I feel like it)

"Um…hi," I stuttered, trying to sound sure of myself and apologetic at the same time, which let me tell you is not half as easy as it sounds.

"Hello," she replied and her voice was so cold that it almost sent shivers down my spine.

"So…your grandpa died, huh?" I mentally smacked myself for saying that one. Why couldn't I just shut up already?

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Well, I wanted to…you know…make you feel better about it. I know what it's like to lose someone you love." And in fact I did. My dad had died in a plane crash back when I was in eighth grade. Now here I was, almost sixteen and I still couldn't shake the feeling of sorrow that washed over me whenever I heard his name. It was like a hole had ripped a place where my heart had once been and only left enough of it beating to love my mom and keep me alive. From what her emotions were telling me, she felt the same way too.

"I don't need anyone's help," she replied icily and I bent my head in shame.

"I know, but I just wanted to make sure. Be a good Samaritan and all."

"Did I look like I needed anything at all to you?"

"Yeah, actually, you did," I shot back. Now I was pissed.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked like a silver-tongued rapier.

"Well, I could've just let that truck crush you. That would have been just perfect, don't you think?"

She glared at me, her eyes full of sheer hatred. If looks could kill.

"This conversation is over," she said, again spitting daggers.

"That's funny, I was under the impression that it had never begun," I spit back. The thing about me is that since I can read minds, I usually hit below the belt with my comebacks. This wasn't particularly my best one, but she was definitely offended. And that was that I needed to make my brilliant exit. I turned my back to her and stalked off into the forest without one look back.

I was so pleased with myself that I half wanted to turn back and give her my best evil laugh.


	2. The Long and Winding Road sort of

2. The Long and Winding Road (Sort of)

I wasn't sure where I was going. I wasn't really sure of anything except the fact that I needed to get out there and fast. Call me paranoid, but I could've sworn there were footsteps behind me. I whirled, ready to catch the girl by the neck and demand what she wanted from me when I was suddenly face to face with my worst nightmare.

Jared Jacobs.

I know it sounds like an innocent name, but it belongs to the wrong guy, let me tell you. Jared is the most heartless guy I know. I don't know anything about him, or where he came from. All I know is that his parents died in some plane crash and that he takes care of his little sister. I don't know anything about her, either. She could be nine or nineteen for all I know. I don't even know her first name. Creeped out yet?

Jared is a guy that you just don't mess with. He's part wolf, like me, and leader of our pack. We call him the alfalfa behind his back. Get it? Like alpha male... never mind.

There are four of us all together: Jared, Jimmy, Jason, and me, Joshua. Yeah, I know they all start with J. I don't think that's why we turned wolf though. Jason has this theory that it's in our genes and when something (we don't know what) knocks it out of its dormant state, we turn into "the lychan." Jason's kind of the geek of the gang. He's really smart and all. Not to say that we're all dumb, it's just that Jason tends to be a little more devoted to schoolwork than the rest of us. Hey, you win some; you lose some.

Bottom line: Jared showing up after I'd just told a human about our existence was bad news. He must've been listening in on our conversation. Yeah, he's creepy like that. But when I looked at him, I mean really looked at him, he didn't seem angry. Which was a first, let me tell you. Jared is _always_ angry. End of story.

But when I looked him in the eye, he seemed genuinely pleased. Okay, this was getting weird. I mean weirder than half-human, half-wolf mutants.

"I'm proud of you Joshua," he said and I almost fell backwards at his words.

"W-what?" I stuttered, stunned beyond belief.

"You've saved me a lot of time and effort."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Granted what you did was stupid and reckless, you still saved me the effort of having to tell that girl about us myself. Thank you." As he said those last two words, I think my heart stopped. Jared _never_ said thank you. _Ever_. It was impossible. This was a crazy, messed up dream and I was going to wake up from it any second now. The apocalypse was coming and I was the first to go. Jared was out of his _freaking mind_!

I tried to pick up the tenor of his thoughts, trying to figure out if this was some stupid prank and then if all the guys were gonna jump out of the bushes, laughing their brains out. I almost forgot that Jared could read my mind too and he startled me when he said, "I can understand why you don't believe what I'm saying, but I truly mean it. Don't think I'm forgetting what you did though. It was idiotic and way too trustworthy. As a punishment, I'm assigning you to see that this girl isn't harmed during her transformation. She's been marked and bitten. Her time has come and it's your job to make sure that she lives up to her full potential."

With that, he morphed and sprinted off. That's Jared for you, dark and mysterious. And what did he mean "marked and bitten?" My head hurt way too much for this to make any sense. The only thing I could think of doing now was to head over to Jason's and see if he knew anything about this.

"There's something that I need to tell you Josh," said Jason in that quiet mysterious voice that always sent chills down my spine. "There's something important that you need to know if you're going to take on this sort of challenge."

"What challenge?"

"Josh, everything you know about our existence is a lie, a distraction. We had to make you believe that we were a mystery in order to have it stay secret." I don't know about you, but I was getting a serious case of the heebie-jeebies.

"What are you _talking _about?" I asked. I was getting a little ticked.

"I'm talking about how we came to be. Jared saw that it was time for you to fully understand your potential. You aren't a mystery, Josh, you're a marvel," Jason explained. His explanations were always a little too smart for me to understand, but I got what he was saying. I was living a lie. Great. Now what? Flying monkeys? Was Elphyba going to jump out from behind the curtains?

"If you'll calm down, Josh, I can explain."

"Okay. I'm calm." I took a few deep breaths just to make sure.

"The story of our existence dates back to the Revolutionary War. King George was worried that he'd underestimated the colonies. He was becoming increasingly desperate.

"One day, an alchemist came to him and told him that he could solve all the king's problems by creating him 'a better warrior.' All that he needed from the king was a lab and a chemical called 'silver bromide.' The king consented, of course, but little did he know that he was in for a problem that he did _not_ want to deal with.

"The alchemist received a lab in Westminster Abbey and spent most of his time there. He had somehow managed to gather three test subjects, though I'm not quite sure how. The king managed to procure the silver bromide from a traveling apothecary, but what the king didn't know, was that the apothecary was a spy for the Americans. This man reported what he'd learned to the American authorities who immediately took action.

"Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough and the chemical had just reached the alchemist by the time that they'd arrived. They shot the courier and the alchemist himself, but unfortunately could not get a hold of the three test subjects.

"Only one man survived the brutal beating received from the 'better warriors.' His mental state was considered incredibly fragile after he told the Americans about the 'dog-men' that had shred his comrades to pieces.

"Benjamin Franklin took into account what the man had told him and was able to acquire the serum from the alchemist's lab. He recognized that there was a vital stabilizer missing from the formula and devoted a year to finding and adding it. He then injected it into one of the army generals to check its capability under controlled conditions and found that it worked beautifully. The only downside was that it required crossing human and lupine DNA. This process wasn't perfected yet so there were a few mishaps. The man eventually escaped his enclosure and ran wild. He would bite people and his lupine DNA would cross with theirs making them one of many," Jason finished, but I wasn't fully satisfied.

"What happened to the three test subjects at Westminster?" I asked. This had been bugging me the entire time. Were we all in danger of some hidden threat?

"We aren't certain, but from the data I've collected I am pretty confident that they died a very long time ago."

"Are we descended from the Americanized version then?"

"Yes, we were all marked at birth and then bitten when we became suitable to carry the gene."

"What do you mean _marked_?" I asked, sure that these questions were annoying, but not caring in the least. He was going to give me some answers, whether he liked it or not.

Jason began picking at the dirt underneath his fingernails. He always did that when he was thinking _really_ hard. I wondered what would make him that way. But I didn't care that much because I was still pissed about being told a lie my entire life.

"You were considered...worthy...of becoming one of us. We needed someone with strength and agility, but who also took the time to think vital decisions through. You fit the bill."

I was going to ask why he was talking as if he'd made the choice himself when he cut me off.

"You'd better get going. Your ma's gonna be home soon."

"Yeah," I agreed reluctantly and slowly got to me feet, "but this discussion isn't over."

"No, it isn't," he agreed and then shooed me out the door.


End file.
